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Your Thoughts on Prayer…

May 17, 2010 in Christian Life with 20 Comments

I’ve been very upfront about my own personal struggle with prayer. Much of it is born out of, for so long, seeing God with deist eyes. Coming to see that prayer actually moves the Person of God, though, and not just nature, changes everything.  But with the change in how I see God, comes also a change in how I see the text of God’s Word. No longer can I just pass over verses, ignoring difficult key elements, because my view of God warrants my not having to address it.

One key element to several passages on prayer have been ones I’ve side-stepped over the years. So I ask…What do you think it means to pray “in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20)?

I’ll pray for you…

May 14, 2010 in Christian Life with 10 Comments

“I’ll pray for you…” It comes off our lips so easily doesn’t it? It takes very little thought whatsoever to utter such words. Someone is ill, loses a loved one,  or has a big job interview and we say it without even thinking. But do we always follow through?

Confession: I’ve said it and not followed through. I had good intentions, though. I really did. I just got sidetracked and forgot to write it down. Even more disturbingly, I got caught up in a movie, fell asleep before it was over, and actually never said a prayer before going to bed.

God be thanked that many have stood in my shoes. God be thanked that when I’ve talked to friends and expressed guilt over my failings, many have said, “I’ve done the same thing, Doug.” Ahhhhh. But the shame remains and empathy doesn’t justify it.

What’s the solution to this problem? Hmmmmm. How about praying with that person at that very moment?

The most powerful moments I’ve ever experienced where when I was prayed over by others, or when I prayed over other people.

Last year I attended a retreat with seven other ministers and their wives. Four couples conducted the retreat for our group. The moments we spent in prayer have yet to be duplicated. In three days, 24 people were able to create a culture of unconditional love. Churches spend years trying to do this, and I watched it happen in three days. It was amazing, and to a large extent the powerful moments in prayer made it so.

Last year, I attended LCU’s Moser Ministry Conference on Social Justice. At the close of the conference, representatives and social workers from Lubbock community service groups were prayed over by conference attendees. I remember placing my arm around the representative from the food bank as Jim Beck prayed over them all. It was an immensely powerful moment.

We didn’t just say to those who are working in the trenches: “I’ll pray for you.” We didn’t say: “We appreciate what you do and will add you to our prayer list.” We prayed for them, but we prayed for them with them. We followed through. We didn’t leave up to our memories.

I’m done with…”I’ll pray for you” and “we’ll put your on our prayer list.” I found myself doing it just this week. At least I’ve followed through of late, though. But no more! If someone needs prayer, they are going to get it right then, no matter where and no matter when.

Hoarders

May 10, 2010 in Christian Life with 4 Comments

Hoard: noun “A stock or store of money or valued objects, typically one that is secret or carefully guarded.”(Oxford American Dictionary)

Maybe you’ve seen the A&E show, Hoarders, or possibly caught an episode of TLC’s,  Hoarding: Buried Alive. Both chronicle the lives of obsessive/compulsive hoarders. Neither is an easy show to watch. The pathological obsessions people have with “things” is unbelievably unnerving.

What I’ve noticed, though, is that the most disturbing aspect of this compulsive disorder, at least in my mind, is what is being hoarded. The things that become valued aren’t necessarily what you would expect. It would be one thing to hoard food, or family heirlooms, but food wrappers, cardboard boxes and paper cups? Something just doesn’t seem right.

But then I got to thinking about how difficult it is to cut ties with all the junk that eats away at us. You know what I mean: anger, bitterness, a grudge, and above all, the need for power and control. These are things that ever-so-slowly erode the heart, only making it harder to cut loose because of the tendency to cling to them. It isn’t all that different from those who destroy their lives, as well as they lives of the ones the love, through hoarding.

Opinions

April 16, 2010 in Christian Life with 4 Comments

Most all reading this live in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” Here we bask in the right to keep and bear arms, and especially, in freedom of speech. We are free to say what we want, when we want, with few exceptions. It’s our God-given right. But as most all of us have experienced, the freedom of speech can come with a price. Free will is also a gift from God, and one’s right to freely speak often meets the ugly side of another’s free will.

You can freely voice your opinions, as most of us do, but the right of free speech doesn’t guarantee safety from a fist in the nose or a slap in the cheek. The lesson? Be careful how you use your freedom of speech. It brings to mind the words of the apostle Paul, “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up” (1 Corinthians 10:23, ESV).

I’m amazed at how often I felt it incumbent upon myself to share with others my opinions about their personal matters. It’s downright embarrassing when I think about it. Naturally, seeing with such open eyes now causes me to wonder why. Why did I feel like it was my place to share with someone my opinion about a matter that had nothing to do with me? I shudder to think.

I also wonder why people feel the need to say some of the things they say to others. What it is that makes people such an expert on hairstyles that they feel the need to be critical of others, either verbally or simply with the glare of their eyes? What makes your opinion about facial hair the right opinion? Who do we think criticism of another is warranted because of a tattoo?

Sure, have and old you opinion, but be careful about expressing it. I believe the reason Jesus issued a clearly stated command not to judge another is because it will come back to get you. “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). And it does. It generally always comes back to haunt us. The moment we nit-pick someone to death, unless they are people who follow Matthew 7:12, they generally enter into critique mode, looking for some flaw in you to expose. And they will. You aren’t perfect. You aren’t flawless. Give them time, they will find and expose your flaw. And they will rub your face in it.

It’s sick and twisted. I’ve given up on thinking my opinion about other’s personal preferences matter. They simply don’t.

Now sin? That’s a different subject, altogether. I’m not talking about sin here. I’m talking about the trivial nonsense by which people find themselves consumed.

You might think your opinion really matters, but the person with whom you’re talking might think differently. If you aren’t careful, you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of something you never saw coming. And the onus will be on you and all because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut!

Pitching Your Tent on Dung

March 31, 2010 in Christian Life, Jesus with 6 Comments

Over Spring Break our family went camping at the entrance of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We met some friends from Dallas and camped for a few days. Our friends got there the day before us. They selected a site that was perfect.

It wasn’t primitive camping. It was a facility set up with multiple tent camping sites. There were bathrooms, showers and even BBQ grills at each respective site. It was a nice place to be sure.

The weather wasn’t great for a delightful camping experience, at least at first. It was cold, rainy, and of course, windy. After a day, though, the weather greatly improved. The wind subsided, the rain ceased, and the skies opened up most majestically. In, too, came the campers. By Tuesday evening, the campsites were nearly full.

Later that night, a rather large group showed up and pitched an enormous tent- in the dark mind you- right in the center of all of us. Unfortunately for them, this wasn’t exactly a tent site. It was a place where horses could be tied off. There were, hyperbolically speaking, tons of left over hay and horse dung all over the place and that group slept right on top of it.

Now give the guys a break. It was dark and the lighting was rather poor, so it was difficult to tell what was on the ground beneath them. But that is what happens when you’re operating in the dark, you often do things you wouldn’t normally do if you could really see.

I think that is why Jesus, John, and Paul spoke so frequently about the light and darkness contrast. They spoke of the power of light, the doom of walking in darkness, and the miseries of darkened eye-site. Bad things tend to happen in the dark, things a lot worse than pitching your tent on top of a bunch of horse manure.

Walking in darkness, though, is not an uneasy thing to find yourself doing. Those who walk without Jesus are doing it now and don’t even know it. Some even effort to walk with Jesus but it is as if they are hiding him with a quilt, or even worse, a straight-jacket. It’s as if he’s the delusional friend they are trying to control lest he make them do irrational things. But he’s hidden to be sure.

Jesus is to be put on, though (Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 3:3-4). He is to be worn by us. And when he is, he actually makes his way inside us and dwells there. His light radiates in and through us so that we do not walk in darkness, but instead walk in truth, because he is truth (John 14:6).

I’ve tried walking with Jesus in futile, unproductive ways. It has made a laughing-stock of him and has often hurt his cause. It was walking in a way of darkness. I cannot contain or restrain Jesus. The man who could not be contained in a tomb definitely cannot be contained by me! Approaching Jesus this way isn’t much different than unknowingly pitching your tent on dung.
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